Lonely World
by allieisrandom
Summary: Takes place ten years in the future. I've only seen up to season 2 episode 8, so feel free to tell me if I made a mistake with the personality of one of the characters who I don't know as well yet. Ships include Finchel, Klaine, Brittana, Artina, and more
1. Ten Years Later

**In the year 2021...**

Finn Hudson walked through the halls of William McKinley High School proudly sporting his usual coach's uniform. He stopped to wave to Mrs. Schuster through the glass walls of her guidance office, blow his whistle at two students who were making out by their locker, causing them to jump back from each other in fear, and hi-five a couple of his players and remind them not to be late to practice. Oh yeah, baby. He _owned_ the place.

"Finn?" He turned around to look at the familiar voice and did a double take when he recognized who it was. "Sam! Buddy!"

"How are you doing, man?" asked Sam, slapping hi-fives with his old friend. "How long has it been, three years?"

"Longer," said Finn. "What are you doing back here?"

"I'm just in town for a few days, I thought I'd stop by and say hello to some friends," said Sam. "I was hoping to run into you, Finn."

"Hey, that's Coach Hudson to you!" Finn jokingly snapped.

"No way!" said Sam, suddenly noticing Finn's black shorts and red shirt. "What happened to the Bieste?"

"She and her husband moved to the Cayman islands last month," said Finn.

Sam blinked. "Husband? Say _what_?"

Finn smiled. "Yeah, you've missed a lot, dude!"

"Apparently!" said Sam. "How's Rachel?"

"She's great," said Finn. "She just got Destiny into the most exclusive private preschool within driving distance of here. She's really excited about it."

"Destiny?" said Sam. "Seriously? After all the hours that she and Kurt spent sitting around obsessing over baby names while we were trying to watch football, _that's_ what she came up with?"

"I like it, actually," said Finn, defending his wife autonomously, as always. "Destiny Rae Hudson. She wanted Barbara Judy, but Kurt called both of those before we even knew the gender."

"Figures," said Sam. "Well, I got to get going now. Nice talking to you!"

"Yeah, nice talking to you too," said Finn. "Wait, the front exit is that way."

"I _know_," said Sam. "I'm just taking a peak at the Cheerios before I go. I need to see if Sylvester has finally gotten rid of that _awful_ red track suit." Sam started out to the football field, where the Cheerios were just finishing up their practice.

"Dude, wait!" said Finn quickly.

"Sorry, but I'm in a hurry!" said Sam.

Finn began running up behind his friend. "Coach Sylvester isn't here anymore either," he said quickly.

"Really?" said Sam, continuing to walk briskly out to the field. "How?"

"She's moved on to bigger and better things," said Finn. "She's a college cheerleading coach now with her own talk show."

"Good for her," said Sam. "Good riddance. Who's their coach now?"

"This could be a shock," said Finn warningly.

"Nah," said Sam. "You know me, I'm shock-proof."

"INCREDIBLE JOB, PEOPLE!" the familiar voice rang through the megaphone. "BUT QUIT 'CHER BITCHIN'! IF YOU THINK THIS IS HARD, TRY BEING WATERBOARDED! THAT'S HARD! NOW HIT THE SHOWERS!"

"Oh dear god," said Sam. "_Tell me _that's not who I think it is."

"Only if you're not thinking it's Quinn Fabray."

"What the hell, man?" mumbled Sam as Quinn turned around. She was wearing red shorts and a red and black T-shirt, which proved to be only slightly more attractive than the red tracksuit.

Just then, Quinn caught sight of Finn and lifted the megaphone back up to her lips. "YO! HUDSON! THE NEXT TIME YOUR PLAYERS LEAVE SOME DIRTY FOOTBALL JERSEY OR SOMETHING ELSE OUT ON THE FIELD FOR MY GIRLS TO FIND, I AM GOING AFTER EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM, FINDING OUT WHO IT WAS, AND HAVING MY GIRLS TIE THEM UP AND LOCK THEM IN ON OF THE PORTABLE TOILETS."

"Wow, Quinn!" Finn shouted back. "You remind me of a young Sue Sylvester! Only she never had your bone structure!"

Quinn smiled a little, flicked back her long blonde ponytail, and marched off after her girls.

"She's not as bitchy as Sue, either," said Finn. "To her students, anyway. She treats pretty much everyone else like crap."

"I don't believe this," said Sam. "What happened the girl we made out with in High School?"

Finn shrugged. "Hey, at least she's finally out of rehab. I have to get to the locker room, my players have probably started strategizing without me."

"Yeah, bye," said Sam. It was only ten minutes later that Finn's last words about Quinn finally hit him, by which time he was still reeling from the shock of her latest transformation. "Finn's right," he thought to himself. "I _have_ missed a lot."

* * *

><p>"<em>Strangers, searching<br>__Livin' just to find emotion!  
><em>_Shadows waiting  
><em>_In the-_"

"Okay, stop!" snapped Mercedes Jones.

The other four band members turned towards her. "Problem, Mercedes?" said Rachel, planting her left hand on her hip condescendingly as she spoke.

"I'm sick of this!" Mercedes snapped. "Rachel, you can't have the lead _every _time!"

"But I'm the lead singer!" said Rachel. "We decided that from the very beginning."

"No, you decided, actually," said Santana.

"And then I said, "Any objections?" and there were none," said Rachel. "Can we just get on with the rehearsal, please?"

"Mercedes does have a point, actually," said Kurt. "Not that I'm suggesting anyone replace you," he said quickly. "Just maybe that we don't, you know, really need a lead singer anymore. Everyone's gotten pretty good."

Rachel sighed. "You're right. Okay guys, fine. No more of this lead singer stuff. From now on, we all sing together." Kurt, Mercedes, Brittany, and Santana all nodded their heads in agreement. "Unless an occasion happens to arise where the song calls for a lead singer…"

"In that case, we can all take turns," said Santana. "Right?"

Rachel sighed. "We'll see. Okay everybody, altogether now, from the top!"

* * *

><p>Later in the break room of their practice hall, Kurt and Rachel were sitting on a couch going through a catalogue trying to figure out what costumes they should buy everyone for their next concert. "How about this one?" said Kurt.<p>

Rachel frowned when she saw it. "I don't know about the color. You and Mercedes are really the only ones who could pull off hot pink."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "_Different colors_, Berry."

"I'm not a Berry anymore," said Rachel.

"Right," said Kurt.

"Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't ever get annoyed about me taking all the solos, do you?" said Rachel.

"Nah," said Kurt. "Just so long as you don't try and give me any male leads."

"Of course not," said Rachel. "You became one of the girls a long time ago." She checked her watch. "Shoot. Let's figure this out quick, in ten minutes I have to leave or I'll be late picking up Destiny from Burt and Carole's."

"Fine," said Kurt. Then he suddenly sighed deeply.

Rachel put down the catalogue instantly and looked at her best friend and brother-in-law. "Kurt, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," said Kurt. Rachel just starred at him for a minute, because something was wrong and they both knew it. Now that she thought about it, he'd been subtly brooding for days. This was the same funk he'd been in since he and Blaine had to fly all their friends up to Canada for the weekend for their wedding, and two months later, Finn and Rachel were planning their relatively spectacular wedding for right there in their hometown.

"This is about Destiny," said Rachel suddenly, realizing it as she was saying it.

Kurt sighed. "It's not fair," he suddenly snapped. "You and Finn decide you want to have a kid, all you have to do is toss out the birth control pills and get to it. Artie and Tina decide they want to have a kid, all they have to do is call an adoption agency and fill out some forms. We can't even do _that_ in this state."

Rachel's eyes widened. "You and Blaine want to start a family? Oh my god! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Same reason you didn't tell any of us you were planning on having kids until you were a couple of months along," said Kurt. "You didn't want have to deal with people asking you about it constantly until you knew for sure it would happen." He sighed. "And apparently for us, it's not going to happen. I was an idiot for ever thinking it would. There's nobody around here who's willing to carry someone else's kid for nine months. _Especially_ when they know that the baby is going to a gay couple at the other end. Nobody of any quality whatsoever, anyway. The one person who answered our ad was a prostitute." He sat down, slumped his shoulders, and looked off to the side, trying to blink back the futile tears in his eyes.

"Kurt?" said Rachel a few seconds later. He felt her hand on his shoulder.

"Just leave me alone," he whispered. "Please."

Rachel took a deep breath. "I'm going to carry you and Blaine's baby for you."

Kurt froze. Then his head shot up. "Don't you dare mess with me, Berry."

"Of course not," said Rachel. "I know I want to do this."

Both of them just sat there for a few minutes, Kurt in complete in utter shock. "Rachel, I…I don't know what to..."

"You don't have to say anything," said Rachel. She nudged him. "Come on, we both know that if Destiny doesn't get a cousin to fight with soon, Carole and all _three _of her grandpas are going to spoil her completely rotten."

Kurt starred at her for a moment before getting up and pulling her into a crushing brotherly hug. "What's Finn gonna think of all this?" he mumbled after a minute.

"Who cares?" said Rachel. "It's _my_ body."

"True," said Kurt. Then he kissed her on the top of her head and let her go. "So, when do you, me, and Blaine take Destiny shopping for preschool clothes?"

"This Saturday after we watch Finn's kids play, of course," said Rachel.

"But where's Finn going afterwards?" said Kurt.

"To Puck's house, of course," said Rachel. "To watch the game. Stupid guys and their football!"

Kurt smiled. "Tell me about it."


	2. Payday

It was that time again: all the faculty at William McKinley High School were going to the teacher's lounge, normally a welcoming place for Finn, to pick up their paychecks. The one day out of every month that everyone around him would be giving him those strangely envious looks. Quinn. Artie and Tina, who were still two of his closest friends. Sometimes even Principal and Mrs. Schuster. Because when it came down to it, everyone in that room who opened their paycheck besides Finn knew that they would be carefully calculating their spending habits and struggling to make that meager amount of money last for the whole next month; and they all knew that Finn _wasn't_ doing the same. Even though he'd never told anyone about the conversation that he'd had with Rachel before he even applied for the job.

"What do you mean you need to get a job other than singing?" she cried. "You _love_ singing!"

"I know," said Finn. "It's just that…well, I'd like to do something else for a while now. You know that I'm not passionate about singing the same way you are."

Rachel nodded. "I knew this day was coming to be honest." Finn smiled slightly, glad she understood. "It's okay. We really don't both need to work right now, anyway. You can just stay home with Destiny for a while."

Finn half-laughed, half-coughed. "No way, sweetie. I can't do that."

"Why not?" said Rachel. "One of my dads was a house husband for a while."

"I need something to make me feel like a man again, okay?" said Finn.

"And you're too "manly" to take care of your own daughter?" said Rachel.

"Quit it," said Finn, playfully ruffling her still-lengthy dark auburn hair. "You know what I mean."

Rachel had hesitated for a moment before relenting. "Yeah, I do. Hey, I know! Why don't we hire you to be our bodyguard?"

In the end, they had agreed that Finn would try to become a football coach and that when Defying Gravity, the somewhat all-female band that Rachel and Kurt had put together, needed a bodyguard, they would hire Puck. In any case, even to those who didn't know how much Finn enjoyed his job, it was made clear by local headlines that he didn't need it. At all.

DEFYING GRAVITY CONCERT TICKETS SELL OUT IN UNDER THIRTY MINUTES  
>DEFYING GRAVITY FINANCES LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL GLEE CLUB<br>DEFYING GRAVITY BECOMES TOP 500 RECORDING ARTIST  
>DEFYING GRAVITY IN RUNNING FOR VMA AWARDS<br>DEFYING GRAVITY DEFYING ALL ODDS!

And preceding that had come…

POP STARS FINN AND RACHEL HUDSON RETURNING HOME FROM NEW YORK  
>FINN AND RACHEL HUDSON PURCHASING $500,000 HOME FOR THEMSELVES AND SINGLE EXPECTED CHILD<br>RACHEL HUDSON STARTING NEW BAND WITH KURT HUMMEL  
>RACHEL HUDSON GIVES BIRTH TO BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL<p>

Finn had told Rachel that he didn't care that his name had been dropped from the headlines the minute he'd stopped singing. And he didn't. Much.

"Hello, Finn," said Emma Schuster courteously. "How are Rachel and Destiny?"

"They're great," said Finn. "How are Billy and Audrie?"

"Awesome," said Emma. "They already decided what they want for Christmas. Guess what they want? A _car_ and a _pony_. Imagine that!"

Finn laughed slightly and decided not to point out that Rachel was already thinking about getting Destiny a pony in a few years for her fifth birthday.

"Hello, Finn," said Mr. Schuster. "How's it going?"

"Good, thanks," said Finn with a smile. "Excuse me. Hey, Artie! How are the kids doing with their new number?" Artie and Tina had been running New Directions together after Will was promoted and no longer had enough time to devote to practices.

"Great," said Artie, who was concentrating on starring at his paycheck.

"Hey, let Rachel or Kurt know that we need tap shoes for the kids, will you?" said Tina.

Finn looked away, embarrassed at the innocent but obvious reference to his financial status. "Sure."

Meanwhile, Will had pulled Emma out into the hall. "Honey, we need to talk."

Emma looked to her husband almost fearfully. "What? What's wrong?"

"Have you seen Coach Fabray?" asked Will. "She's normally the first one in there on payday."

"I did notice that there was no one in there making fun of what everybody was wearing," said Emma. "So I guess not."

"I wonder if she's alright," said Will, silently thinking that whatever Quinn said was fine as long as she didn't start making fun of his hair. "Maybe I should have Finn go look for her."

"Nah, I'm sure she just got held up someplace," said Emma. "Are there any other paychecks you need to give out?"

"Only one," said Will. "Puck's."

Less than two hundred feet away from them, right in the supply closet next to the gym, Puck was laying half-naked on a gymnastics mat. "I don't think we should be doing this here," he whispered.

Quinn lifted her lips from his bare chest and placed her chin in the palm of her hand, which was resting on Puck's abs. "Oh, why the hell not? Think of all the calories we're burning!"

Puck rolled his eyes. "Can I be honest with you?" Quinn raised her eyebrows attentively. "You are the last person in the world I ever would have expected to become my friend with benefits. Even after I got you pregnant. I thought that at this point in our lives, you would be married to some good Catholic boy in a house with a picket fence and five kids, and I would be, I don't know, in a motorcycle gang or something."

"And you are the last person in the world who I ever would have expected to be running his mouth when you're supposed to be ripping my clothes off," said Quinn. "Guess I'm going to have to shut you up." She leaned in and sucked on his rough lips, expecting him to reach up and tear her t-shirt apart as casually as if he were ripping a piece of paper in half. Instead, he took both his hands and pushed her back. Her head jerked up, and her eyes widened with alarm.

"I found Beth, Quinn."

Quinn's mouth fell open in shock. Her breathing slowed, her heartbeat quickened. No, this wasn't happening. He hadn't just said that. No way.

"Yeah," said Puck. "She's eleven years old now. And she lives about half an hour away from here."

"How could you even…you didn't even officially _name_ her!" said Quinn. "I saw the birth certificate before we left the hospital, the name section was blank."

"The person who adopted her says that the biological father wanted the name," said Puck. "I called her Beth enough times while we were there for _someone_ to have overheard. And-get this-the person who adopted her was Rachel's biological Mom."

Quinn closed her eyes tightly, just like Rachel always did when she was singing, she thought. Why the hell was she thinking about Rachel's singing right now? That had nothing to do with anything. Especially not Puck or Beth. Her heartbeat quickened slightly again.

"Quinn?" said Puck. "Are you alright?"

No, she wasn't alright. She hadn't thought about her baby girl in years. She had never planned on seeing her again or thinking about her again or even knowing her name. She felt slightly annoyed at Puck that she now knew Beth's name and could never un-know it.

Quinn jumped up and walked purposefully over to a nearby mirror to make sure her hair was still nearly pulled back into a ponytail. "Quinn?" said Puck. "Where are you going? I thought you wanted to be on top!"

"Payday," snapped Quinn. "We need to pick up our checks." She felt slightly better upon hearing Puck say something to indicate that he was still his normal perverted self, but at the same time it made her think of Beth again because it reinforced the thought that she had made the right choice giving her up.

"Oh, right," said Puck. He headed for the door.

"No!" snapped Quinn once she was satisfied to her appearance. "I'll go out there first, you wait at least fifteen minutes. And try to come out a different door." Without waiting for his response, Quinn marched out into the hall and straight down to the teacher's lounge, threw open the door and marched in.

"Oh hey, Quinn," said Mrs. Schuster. "We were just wondering about…"

Quinn roughly marched past everyone around her, walked straight over to the principal, and held out her hand. Will sighed and handed her her paycheck. Instead of saying thank you Quinn turned back to Emma and said. "Your outfit looks good. Today." Then she began to make her way out of the room.

"Hey, Quinn?" said Finn. She turned around to face him, hands on her hips. "You know Sam is in town."

"Really?" said Quinn. "So?" She starred at him for about ten seconds, then marched out of the room.

"I still can't figure out what made her so cold," mumbled Artie.

"No one knows," said Finn. "I'm sure part of it had to do with working with Sue all those years." Artie and Tina both nodded in agreement. "Remember the day she came back?"

"Of course," said Artie. "Who could forget?"

It had been about five years ago on the first day of that school year and Artie and Tina's first day there as teachers. Finn hadn't been working there yet, but he and Rachel had been home from New York for a few days visiting family and had stopped by the teacher's lounge for lunch. They'd been sitting with Artie, Tina, Will, and a _very_ pregnant Emma, when suddenly Quinn marched into the room. "EXCUSE ME? I demand to see Principal Figgins _now_!"

Everyone in the room had looked to her in shock. "Quinn!" said Mr. Schuster.

"Wow…" said Finn. "This is a surprise!"

"Wasn't the last time we saw her at her intervention?" whispered Tina.

"Yeah," said Artie.

"Every time I call here some secretary tells me he's not available," said Quinn. "As if you people could scare me off with your lies that easily. I'm two years clean and sober, I've gotten my life together, and I demand that I be allowed to come back here and finish getting my high school diploma."

Will walked over to her. "Quinn…"

"Surely there's something you can do," she said. "I'm only twenty-two. I remember when you got that awful April Rhodes back in here and she was, like, fifty!"

"Actually she was thirty-two," said Will. "Quinn, the reason that you couldn't get ahold of Principal Figgins is because he's retired."

"Oh," said Quinn. "Well, who's the new principal?"

"You're looking at him," said Will.

Quinn nodded, trying not to show her embarrassment. "Quinn, I can let you come back to school if you want," he said. "But I'll tell you right now, with your academic and disciplinary record of the last year and a half you were at this school, you'll have to work _very_ hard to get your diploma. And by very hard I mean one B- could ruin you. Honestly, you would probably be better off going for your G.E.D. at this point."

Quinn glanced around the room, mortified despite the fact that all these people had been there during her rebellious years. "You could have told me that in private."

Will blinked. "You could have _confronted_ me in private."

Having nothing more to say, Quinn turned around and walked slowly out the door. She glanced at the halls as she moved through them dejectedly. This felt like getting kicked out of school all over again.

"Aww, look at you. It's like you got kicked out all over again!"

Quinn turned around, startled by the familiar rough voice and even more startled by the fact that the speaker seemed to have just read her mind. "What do you want, Coach Sylvester?" she said.

"So, you can't get your high school diploma," said Sue. "Big deal. It's just a stupid piece of paper. There are a lot more useful things you could be aiming for in life. Like this." She tossed the megaphone in her hand at Quinn.

Startled, Quinn caught the megaphone and just barely managed to keep it from slipping to the ground. "What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm offering you a job, honey," said Sue. "I know I was a little rough on you the year you got pregnant, but that was before I knew how resilient you were. You bounced right back into shape Fabray, and I don't know what the _hell_ happened to you after that, but you did it again. Look at you. Right back on top."

Quinn smiled a little. It felt good to have someone actually recognize all the hard work she'd done to pull herself up out of the black hole she'd fallen into. "Yeah, I guess I am," she said.

Sue beamed. "Exactly what I would have said. We could really make a good team, Fabray. You always did remind me of a young Sue Sylvester. And I definitely need someone as cruel and ruthless as me who'll be able to take over the Cheerios after I leave to go host my own talk show."

Quinn kept her face poker straight to avoid smirking. _Like that's ever gonna happen_, she thought.

"Come on, girlie," said Sue. "What do you say? Ready to go out there and terrorize some kids?"

Quinn nodded. "I think I'm up for it."

"Good," said Sue. She shook hands with Quinn firmly. "Now give me back that megaphone. Your first assignment is to take the girls uniforms to the dry cleaners. If they charge you more than fifteen dollars per uniform, start yelling at them. That way they'll know you're as ruthless as me and learn to be terrified of you."

"Yeah, that was really something," said Finn. He looked up as the door swung open. "Yo, what's up Puckerman?"

"Nothing much," muttered Puck as he went to collect his paycheck from Will, which since he was only a part-time janitor was even more meager than everyone else's. Afterwards, he pulled Finn aside and told him that he had found his daughter. "And when I told Quinn about it, she practically ran out of the room."

"I feel for you, man," said Finn. "This might seem crazy, but back when Quinn was pregnant and I still thought Drizzle was mine…"

"…her name's _Beth_," said Puck.

"I know, but she'd been mine her name would've been Drizzle," said Finn.

"Dude, that is the _stupidest_ name I have ever heard," said Puck. "No wonder Kurt had to be the one to help Rachel pick out Destiny's name."

"That had nothing to do with it," said Finn. "Apparently picking out baby names is a chick thing. And by the way, Quinn told me about the day that you tried to name Beth after a brand of alcohol, so shut up. Anyway," Finn sighed. "I really waned Quinn to keep that baby."

"I know," said Puck. He sighed and looked away. "So did I."


	3. Parenthood

Finn opened the door to the townhouse where he lived with his family and was greeted with a silky golden retriever's bark followed almost immediately by the sound of his almost three-year-old daughter crying, "Daddy home!" He smiled proudly as Destiny came tearing into the room, her long black ponytail swinging with her footsteps, and jumped into his arms. He kissed her on the cheek. "How was your day, Rainbow?"

Destiny grinned. "Gramma Carole baked cookies!" She had most of Rachel's face but pitch black hair and Finn's exact smile. And she was so cute that it was somehow impossible to refuse her anything.

"Really?" said Finn. "How many did you eat?" The little girl held up four fingers. "Hmm, your mommy must not be happy about that."

Destiny shook her head seriously. "Shhh!"

Finn nodded. "Oh, I see how this is." He set his tiny daughter down on the floor and reached to pet the golden retriever on the head. "Hey, Star." Finn picked up an old shoe that was lying next to him on the ground and hurled it into a random hallway. "Fetch!"

"Can I get you anything, Mr. Hudson?" asked the maid from the doorway to the kitchen.

"Uh, a glass of wine would be nice," said Finn.

"I've got it!"

Finn looked up and saw Rachel coming from the kitchen delicately holding a wine glass in each hand. Even without the help of her elegant skin-tight ocean blue dress, she would have looked just as lovely as she did back when they met in high school. "Destiny," said Rachel. "Why don't you go practice your dance steps just one more time before we have dinner?"

"Okay, Mommy," said Destiny. She stopped to give Finn a big sticky kiss on the cheek before running off.

Rachel smiled her usual gorgeous smile as she handed Finn his glass. "Welcome home, Coach Hudson." She gave him a sweet soft peck on the lips and then clinked the rim of her glass against his. Finn smiled contentedly as he raised his glass to his lips. It was good to be home.

Rachel smiled. "I think I'm having Kurt's baby."

Finn instantly coughed and spat out his wine into the cup. He blinked three times as he starred at the crestfallen expression on his wife's pretty face. "Or Blaine's," said Rachel. "One or the other."

Finn laughed nervously. "Okay yes, I believe you, you really could be an actress if you wanted. But don't do that to me again, okay? At least not at a time when you could choke me." Rachel blinked, her face suddenly looked a little sadder. "Um…okay?" said Finn. "Rachel, quit it. You're really freaking me out here."

"Sorry," said Rachel. "Well, I'm not pregnant yet if that's what you're wondering. We haven't even gotten the tools we need."

"Huh?" said Finn.

"You know, to inseminate me," said Rachel. "You didn't think I was planning on getting pregnant the old fashioned way, didn't you?"

"No, no, of course not," said Finn. "Although I can't say that I understand _what_ the hell you're planning on doing."

"I'm giving Kurt and Blaine a baby," said Rachel. "The same way my mom gave me to my dads."

Finn took a moment to comprehend the situation. Then he shook his head. "Rachel, you know I want Kurt and Blaine to be able to become parents just as much as you do," said Finn. "But you can't be the one to have their child."

"I can and I will," said Rachel firmly. "Do you not realize how unfair it is, how hard it is for them just to be able to live their lives like a normal married couple the way that we do without even thinking about it?"

"I do!" said Finn. "I really do. But think of how weird that would be once the baby was born. Your niece or nephew would have your own DNA."

"So?" said Rachel, even though she was realizing as she spoke how weird it would be.

"You would have one child with me and one child with either my brother or his husband," said Finn. "The fact that you wouldn't be raising one of them wouldn't change that. Which also brings up the point that you're going to want _way _more control over what they do with their kid than a regular aunt would. It could ruin our relationship with them. And think of Destiny. What are we going to tell her? Look, this is your new baby cousin, but it's also your baby brother or sister? She's already going to have enough trouble explaining to her classmates that she has a married set of grandpas _and_ a married set of uncles." Finn took Rachel's right hand in is. "We are _going_ to help Kurt and Blaine get a baby, Rachel." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Just not like this."

"Daddy!" yelled Destiny. "Want to see me dancing?"

"Coming, Rainbow," said Finn. He squeezed Rachel's hand firmly before letting it go. She blinked back tears as he walked away. Rachel Berry Hudson did not get a wink of sleep that night.

Fortunately, by the next morning, she had come up with the perfect solution.

"We need to get an egg donor."

"Why?" said Kurt. "Your eggs are perfect. Destiny's proof of that."

Rachel gave a small proud smile. "It's just that if it were my own biological child…well…you know how controlling I get."

Kurt was silent for a moment. Then he nodded. "I'd probably be the same way. Well, just so long as you'll actually carry the baby for us. That's the most important thing."

"_Of course _I will," said Rachel. Then she heard a knock on the door of their practice hall and went to go open it. In walked Mercedes, Santana, and Brittney. "Hey, girls," said Rachel. "What should we practice first?"

And without even thinking about it, Kurt mentally started going over the reproductive potential of all the females in the room.

_Santana._ Would probably charge him an arm and a leg. Plus she didn't take very good care of herself, so her eggs were probably damaged.

_Brittney._ No way. He wanted his child to have I.Q. over 80.

_Mercedes._ Would she do it? Of course she would. But then there was the disadvantage of him and Blaine forever having to explain the fact that their child was African American.

Wait, what the hell was he thinking about? He couldn't ask one of his own band members for an egg donation. That would be just as awkward as the kid being Rachel's if not more. It would have to be someone he didn't see nearly as often or at all.

"Okay! Let's get started!" said Rachel. She pressed the button to play the soundtrack for "Hello" by Beyonce and motioned for Kurt to come closer to the others. Then she pointed at Santana so she would sing the first line.

As she sang the words, "I love to see you walk into the room, by the shining lighting up the place " Santana glanced meaningfully at Brittney.

Rachel pointed at Brittney next. Brittney was looking right at Santana when she sang, "And when you talk everybody stop, because they know you know just what to say…"

Santana and Brittney had cared for each other deeply for a long time now, and even though both of them had plenty of fun on the side, they were now proud to introduce the other one as their girlfriend. Sure, their fights could get pretty nasty, in fact, just last week, they'd fought for three hours over whether or not they had enough room for a fifth cat in their apartment. Brittney had won that one by promising that she would clean the litter box from then on. But the whole thing had gotten Santana thinking : now that she and Brittney were responsible adults and had a somewhat-stable home together and were officially in a committed open relationship, maybe it was time for them to take the next step.

"Great job, girls," said Rachel.

"What the hell was that?" said Mercedes. "You gave Brittney and Santana like, eighty percent of the lines. The rest of us were practically backup."

Santana put her hands on her hips. "Maybe because Rachel knows that _we're _the best singers."

"We're all great singers," said Rachel. "Brittney and Santana just sang this song best because they were singing it to each other." Brittney and Santana exchanged affectionate smiles.

"That's bullshit," mumbled Mercedes.

"Oh come on," said Rachel. "When I only take three lines for myself out of a whole song, you know that I'm doing it because of the way it sounds."

"Again, bullshit," snapped Mercedes. "You're obviously going racist on us."

Rachel planted both her hands on her hips. "_Excuse me_?"

"Mercedes, cool it!" snapped Kurt.

Everyone in the room was a little startled. Mercedes, knowing that she had officially gone too far, mumbled an apology and marched away into one of their offices. "Um…okay, everyone take five," said Rachel. She and Kurt exchanged perplexed glances as Santana took Brittney's hand and led her outside.

"Brittney, I think we should have a baby," said Santana.

Brittney's mouth fell open. "_What_? _How_?" Her eyes darted back and forth in confusion.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Only one of us can technically be the kid's mom, brainless."

"Oh, I see," said Brittney. "I was wondering how one of us was going to make the sperm."

"That's _impossible_," said Santana, already starting to reconsider. "And if we are going to do this, _I_ should probably be the biological mother."

"But it would be both of ours once it's born?" said Brittney. Santana nodded. "Okay! But who's the biological father, then?"

"Hmm," said Santana. "I'll have to think about that."

* * *

><p>"No. Not happening. No way in hell. <em>No<em>."

"God, Finn, why not?" said Santana.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," said Finn. "Now get the _hell_ out of my locker room."

"I refuse to leave without an explanation!" said Santana. "I _chose_ you to be the father of my baby. You should be honored. This could've been the best thing we've ever done!"

"No, it would be the _stupidest_ thing we've ever done," said Finn. "And when you think about it, that's saying a _lot_. Now go!"

Santana rolled her eyes and marched out of the room. What a stupid jerk Finn was being! She was steaming for a full thirty seconds before she caught sight of a tall blonde man she recognized.

"Sam!" said Santana. "Hi!"

"Um…hey?" he said. Then he took a second look and said. "Oh! Santana Lopez, right?"

"Yeah, from Glee club, remember?" she said. "God, how long has it been since we talked?"

"Um…" said Sam. "I don't think we _ever_ really…"

"Come on," said Santana, hooking her arm around his and patting his shoulder with her other hand. "Let me take you to lunch."

"Actually I was just on my way to see Finn," said Sam.

"Finn's not there," said Santana. "Come on, I'll buy." Without another word, she practically yanked him out the door.

Tina glanced out the window of her classroom into the hallway. "Am I losing my mind, or are Santana and Sam actually walking down the hall together?"

Artie, who was near the door, opened it a crack and glanced. "You're…not losing your mind. Either that or we both are."

"_This_ is messed up," said Tina. "Are you done running those numbers yet?"

Artie glanced down at the figures in his lap and sighed. "Don't you feel guilty about asking Defying Gravity for more money for twenty pairs of tap shoes?"

"Not really," said Tina. "It's for the kids. They really want to do this number. Don't you want them to be able to do it?"

"Eh," said Artie. "The last time I remember seeing tap shoes was when we had that ridiculous idea to tap dance together."

"You don't have to watch them do the dance if you don't want to," said Tina. "I'll do the choreography for this one after you teach them the song."

Artie smiled. "Alright. But of course I'll watch them dance after they learn it. They're our kids."

Tina looked away from the papers she was organizing on her desk and impulsively walked over and kissed her husband, wondering as she did so what, all those times that they had broken up for brief stretches in high school or college, had ever made her want to give him up.

"Speaking of kids," said Tina. "All the money that we save is going into our adoption fund this month, right?"

"Yes, but if you do happen to become pregnant soon, we use that money for our child's college fund or something instead, right?" said Artie.

"Of course," said Tina.

Both of them were quiet after that. Neither of them seemed to want to state what they had both already been thinking since they threw out the birth control two years ago: that the accident that had put Artie in the wheelchair might have also caused him not to be able to ever get her pregnant.


	4. Unexpected Surprises

**A/N: Just so you know, I'm going to be on vacation for the next week. Expect absolutely no updates until then and a ton as soon as I get back! Oh, and just so you know, my original plan for this story was NOT for the entire thing to revolve around babies, but that appears to be the way it's turning out, at least for now. Hope you enjoy!**

Finn stepped out of the locker room and looked around in confusion.

"Hey!"

Finn turned around and saw Kurt. "Hi," he said. "Have you seen Sam? We were supposed to hang out."

"I don't know," said Kurt. "I'm just stopping by. I wanted to stop by and make sure that you're okay with Rachel having our baby."

"Um…" said Finn. "Yeah, about that…I talked to Rachel, and I think we agreed that it would be pretty weird if our niece or nephew was her son or daughter."

"Oh, _that_ must be why she told me we needed to find an egg donor then," said Kurt. Finn blinked. This was news to him. "You're okay with this now, right?"

"Um…yes," said Finn. He laughed nervously. "Of course."

Kurt smiled and threw his arms around his brother. "Thanks, Finn! You're the best!"

Finn patted Kurt's back and looked away, not really sure what to make of all this.

"PDA!"

Finn and Kurt both looked up. "Oh, Quinn, shut up!" said Finn.

"Mind telling me why you think it's okay for your football players to be selling candy bars out in the hallway?" Quinn demanded.

"It's fine," said Finn. "I've already cleared it with Schuster. They're just trying to raise money for uniforms."

"Yeah, but they're depressing my cheerleaders," said Quinn.

"Why?" said Finn. "They're welcome to sell something, too."

"But they are _not_ allowed to buy candy bars," said Quinn. "You obviously don't get it. Your players need all the calories they can get. With cheerleaders, it's the opposite. My girls are allowed to have twelve hundred calories a day, give or take two hundred depending on their height, and five hundred of those calories have to be in fruits, vegetables, milk, and eggs. They're allowed to have one spoonful of peanut butter and two cookies a week. Candy bars are a no-no. I should have your players expelled for tempting them."

Finn rolled his eyes. "You know you can't do that. Let me ask you something, how many calories do _you_ eat every day?"

"_Exactly_ twelve hundred," said Quinn. "And instead of cookies, I have spoonfuls of cod liver oil. And I probably work out more hours out of the day than you do. So _you_ shut up. I'm going to my office for a couple of hours, if I see your players still selling those candy bars when I come out, I'm giving them all detention."

"You can't do that either!" Finn shouted after her as she marched off down the hall. He rolled his eyes and turned back to Kurt. "She's something, huh? Although you do have to admire how well she's been taking care of herself."

Kurt nodded. "Yeah," he said. "_Very_ good care of herself."

Finn sighed. "Well, anyways, practice is about to start. I'll see you around, man."

"Yeah, you too," said Kurt. He turned around and walked out of the school, quite satisfied.

* * *

><p>"And then she basically accused me of being a racist, stormed out, and didn't come back!" said Rachel.<p>

"That _is_ weird," said Finn as he unzipped his wife's dress. "What do you think is the matter with her?"

"I don't know," said Rachel. "Kurt and I are going to corner her tomorrow before rehearsal and find out. I'm more worried about her than I am angry. She's been acting like this for _days_."

"I can see why," said Finn. "Why you're worried, I mean."

Rachel quickly slipped into her nightgown. "Hey," she said. "You coming to bed?"

"I will in a little bit," said Finn. "First I have to go knock up Santana Lopez."

"Uh-huh," said Rachel. "Wait…_what_?"

"Well I figured as long as we're busy giving babies to gay couples I might as well," said Finn. "It's not like she can have the baby with Brittney. All in the name of fairness, you know?"

"Ok, you stop right there!" said Rachel. "First of all, you know damn well that when it comes down to it Santana could walk into a bar and walk out pregnant and _would_. Second of all, I told Kurt that I can't have his biological child. He's going to find an egg donor and get me pregnant through in vitro fertilization."

"But _you_ are going to be pregnant with _his_ child," said Finn.

"So?" said Rachel. "It won't even be my child. Are you jealous or something? Why? It's not like I haven't already had _your_ child."

"And then after baby Kurtchel pops out, you can have someone else's child, right?" said Finn. "How about Puck? He's always wanted to get into your pants. Plus we already know he seems to enjoy getting the women I'm in love with pregnant."

Rachel was so angry her face was red now. "That…that was _eleven_ years ago!"

"And then what about that reporter dweeb from high school? The one who went along to sectionals just because he wanted to do you after he blackmailed you into giving him a pair of your panties? You can become a whole baby breeding machine!"

"Finn, get out!" snapped Rachel.

Finn blinked. "What? I thought you wanted me to come to bed."

"Forget it!" said Rachel. "You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Why?" said Finn. "Are afraid that you'll accidentally get pregnant with my child so that you can't…"

At that point, Rachel practically shoved him out the door, closed it, and locked it. Then she closed her eyes, leaned back against the door, and sighed.

* * *

><p>"Mommy, you and Daddy have fight?" asked Destiny from her car seat directly behind Rachel.<p>

"You don't need to worry about that, honey," said Rachel. "But yes, we did."

"Why fight?" said Destiny. "He not sharing his toys?"

Rachel smiled into the rearview mirror. "Something like that. And…here we are!" They pulled up into the driveway of Burt and Carole's house. She got out of the car and got Destiny out of her car seat and put her down. Destiny immediately tore up to the house and rang the doorbell until Rachel told her to stop. "Gramma!" said Destiny as soon as Carole Hummel opened the door. "I didn't tell Mommy about the cookies!"

"What?" said Rachel.

Destiny looked away. "Nothin'."

"It was just a one time thing," Carole explained quickly. "I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," said Rachel. That was the last thing on her mind

Carole looked at her. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Mommy and Daddy had fight," said Destiny. "He wasn't sharing." Then she tore down the hallway and into Burt's office.

"It's nothing," said Rachel quietly. "I just decided to do something perfectly reasonable that Finn can't stand and he acted like he was going to go do something ridiculous that he would never actually do, and then he started complaining about a bunch of other stuff that nobody cares about anymore and just…being completely juvinile!" Then she stopped, wondering if she'd already said too much.

Carole smiled. "When I started going out with Burt, Finn pretended that he was going to flush his dad's ashes down the toilet. Whenever he hates what's going on and doesn't know what to do about it, he starts acting like a child. That's the way that all men are."

"Not Burt," said Rachel.

Carole's smile grew a little. "He's older. It'll be fine, Rachel. You and Finn love each other too much for one of you not to cave in soon enough."

"Is everything okay?" asked Burt, coming into view with Destiny clinging to his back like a monkey.

"It's fine, honey," said Carole reassuringly. Rachel smiled at her.

"We going to the park!" said Destiny.

"Have fun," said Rachel, giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, Rachel," said Burt.

"How are you doing?" said Rachel.

"Great," said Burt. "Tell Finn to stop by sometime, will you?"

"Sure," said Rachel. "I've got to get going now. I'll see you guys tonight!"

On the way out to the practice studio, all Rachel could think about was how perfect Burt and Carole's relationship was and how that was exactly what she hoped she and Finn could be like someday-minus the part about them both having deceased spouses and having taken so long to meet each other, of course. They'd had their tenth anniversary a year ago, but the way they were with each other you would think that they'd been together forever.

Then Rachel started wondering what exactly it was that they were doing right. Part of it was the fact that they understood each other so well, having both spent so much of their lives struggling as single parents and in mourning over their other half. That was something that she and Finn undoubtedly had-they had shared so much of their lives with each other that it was impossible for her to imagine being with someone else.

But Rachel had a feeling that there was more to it than that.

Kurt's car was already parked outside the practice studio when Rachel got there. So saw Santana and Brittney's. "Hey," said Kurt. "I sent Brittana inside to go over their parts for 'Hello'."

"Is Mercedes here yet?" asked Rachel.

"No," said Kurt. "Wait, there she comes."

They both stood there and watched as her car pulled up and she got out. "Oh, now what?" said Mercedes.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Mercedes, um…"

"Cut the crap and tell us what's going on," Kurt cut in.

"Yeah, that," said Rachel.

Mercedes sighed and already looked slightly defeated when she said, "Why can't you guys just leave me alone?"

"Because we care about you!" said Rachel and Kurt in unison.

"If we didn't, one of us probably would have smacked you by now," said Rachel.

"Or at least busted your car windows," said Kurt.

"Huh?" said Rachel.

"Never mind," said Kurt.

"You guys, I'm pregnant!"

Rachel blinked her eyes in shock. "What? Since _when_?"

"Five weeks," said Mercedes. She already had tears running down her face. "I wasn't planning this."

"Come here," whispered Rachel. She put her arms around Mercedes and started patting her back.

"I don't think I can go through with this," said Mercedes. "I don't think I can have this baby."

"What?" said Rachel. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I've known people who've ended their pregnancies, and they live with that regret for the rest of their lives."

"I've thought about that, okay?" said Mercedes. "There's just no easy way out!" Then she started crying even harder.

"Rachel, I have to go."

Rachel whipped her head around just in time to catch sight of Kurt's disappearing back heading towards his car. It took her about two seconds to realize why he was leaving. Of course. He wanted to become a father so badly, and here was one of their best friends who had not only gotten pregnant without even trying, but was miserable about it. Rachel bit her lip. This situation had just gone from being not easy to being completely impossible.

* * *

><p>Quinn Fabray, also known Coach Fabray among the students and Crazy Quinn among most of the rest of the faculty, was going through the bin of pompoms in her closet and trying to determine which of them were too frayed to use anymore. There were more than fifty of them in the bin. "This is ridiculous!" she snapped. "I shouldn't be doing this!" Coach Sylvester would undoubtedly have the cheerleaders doing this for her. And plus…what a pathetic thing for her life to have come down to. She was supposed to have made something of her life, not spent it sorting pompoms.<p>

"Need some help?"

Quinn looked up. Kurt was standing there. She hadn't spoken to him since they exchanged a fairly formal greeting at Finn and Rachel's wedding. "What are you doing here?" she said. "This is _my_ office, Finn's is across the hall."

"I know," said Kurt. "I came here to see you."

Quinn blinked. "Really? Why?"

"I just happened to come across these," said Kurt, pulling two tickets out of his sleeve. "And thought of you."

Quinn blinked. "I've always wanted to see this company perform," she said, slightly touched. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," said Kurt. "And about those pompoms, forget sorting through them, they're _all_ frayed. They look like you haven't gotten new ones in forever."

"Yeah, well," said Quinn. "Schuster never did give us that big a budget."

"I was on the Cheerios too, you know," said Kurt. "To think that your poor kids have to practice their routines with these things…." he picked up one of the pompoms and ran his fingers through it. "I just can't take it. We're going to buy some new ones right now."

"I don't have enough money for all of them," said Quinn.

"I do," said Kurt. He took her by the wrist and practically yanked her out of the closet and down the hallway.

* * *

><p>"Okay…" said Tina, glancing out the window of her classroom. "Now I <em>know<em> I'm losing my mind."

"Does she even realize he's…_gay_?" said Artie.

"And married?" said Tina.

Artie shook his head and backed up from the window. "Come here," he said. Confused, Tina walked over, then screamed a little when Artie pulled her into his lap. "You're gonna be a great mom no matter where our kid comes from, you know that?"

Tina laughed. "Aww, where'd that come from?"

Artie shrugged. "I just really love you right now for some reason."


	5. Where Babies Come From

**A/N: I know the Quick stuff doesn't fit with what's going on in the show right now at all, but I had this idea before those episodes aired and I've only seen up to episode eight of season two so I can't watch the season three ones yet anyway. So just pretend this is an alternate universe or something :P**

POUND! POUND! POUND!

"Finn?"

Finn whipped around. There was Principal Schuster standing in the doorway. Crap. "Um, yeah?"

"I just came to see if you and Rachel could take the twins for a few hours on Sunday," said Will.

"Sure," said Finn. "I'll ask her."

"Um…Finn?" said Will. "Any particular reason why you just destroyed that punching bag?"

"Oh," said Finn. "That old thing?" He was still breathing heavily, and the punching bag was lying in a torn pathetic heap on the locker room floor.

"Finn," said Will. He stepped closer and put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "What's going on? Is everything okay with Rachel?"

Finn hesitated. "She wants to…" He stopped for a second to finish catching his breath. "She wants to be Kurt and Blaine's surrogate."

To Finn's horror, Will's face lit up. "Really? Good for her, that's amazing!" Then he blinked and his face fell slightly. "What's the problem? Is she not healthy enough or something?"

Finn starred at Will and shook his head. "Don't you get it? She's _my wife_ and she's planning on giving birth to some other guy's kid. She's going to be lying in bed next to me for nine months with her hand on her stomach feeling and _talking_ to something that isn't mine."

"But it's not really hers either, is it?" said Will. The look on his face told Finn that he had no idea what his problem was.

Finn pushed Will's hand off his shoulder in disbelief, shook his head, and started making his way out to the practice field. If Will, the man who'd been his first father figure who was more than just a picture in a frame, couldn't understand what he was going through, nobody could.

His players were already out on the field waiting for him. "Okay, start warming up!" shouted Finn.

Finn glanced over at Quinn, who was making her way back to the locker rooms with her Cheerios. Puck was taking out a bag of trash, then he looked up and also saw Quinn, and then he bolted in her direction. That was weird. Finn considered talking to Puck about what was going on with Rachel for about two seconds, then realized that Puck would probably tell everyone they knew just like when Quinn got pregnant and they were trying to keep it quiet. Which was too bad. Puck would certainly understand it from a man's point of view better than anyone.

* * *

><p>"ALRIGHT CHEERIOS, UP ON THE SCALE!" yelled Quinn through her megaphone. "AFTER YOUR WEIGH YOURSELF, PLEASE WRITE YOUR WEIGHT DOWN NEXT TO THE OBNOXIOUS NICKNAME I GAVE YOU UP ON THE WHITEBOARD." Just then she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. "Puck," she said. "I'm in the middle of something. Don't you have some garbage to clear out? And by the way, I don't think my office has been vacuumed in a week."<p>

"This will be quick," said Puck. "I just need to talk to you about one thing."

Quinn sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"

"I'm going to go find Rachel and ask her about Shelby and Beth," said Puck. "Are you coming?"

Quinn's eyes narrowed into furious brown slits. "_Get_ out of here. Mention it again and we are not friends, with or without benefits, anymore. And by the way, I still need you to vacuum my office."

"Quinn, how can you be so…" Puck stopped when Quinn warningly lifted her megaphone to her lips. He shook his head as he slipped out the door.

Quinn marched over to the whiteboard to check her girls' weights. "You're doing good, girls. The only people who still seem to be over the Cheerios BMI limit are the new members, which isn't a big deal since they only joined us a couple of weeks ago. But just so you know now, anyone who isn't looking as thin as a promise by the end of the month is getting redistributed. That's what people tell you when they're about to fire you or kick you out of somewhere. Now HIT the showers!"

All the cheerleaders walked away grumbling to themselves and made their way around Kurt as he entered through the same door they were coming out of. Quinn smiled. "Hey, you!" she said. A couple of Cheerios glanced up in shock at her sudden friendly demeanor, but one hard stare from Quinn sent them on their way.

Quinn sighed. "They hate me."

"You're a teacher," said Kurt. "If they hate you that means you're doing your job."

Quinn smiled. "That's true…" she was quite pleased that he actually referred to her as a teacher rather than a coach. The way Quinn saw it, the lessons that she was teaching her kids were _way_ more valuable than what they were learning in their academic classes.

"I just wanted to stop by and say hi," said Kurt. "I had fun at the show the other night."

"So did I," said Quinn. "We should do it again sometime."

"Of course," said Kurt. "In fact, I know a show you might like to go to next Saturday."

"Oh yeah?" said Quinn, suddenly grinning with excitement. "Where?" Kurt smiled and held out one ticket. Quinn took it. "Isn't this your band?"

"Yeah," said Kurt. "You're the only person I've ever given a free ticket to besides Blaine, Dad, or Carole. I hope you can make it.

"_Of course_," said Quinn, suddenly touched. "I'll be there!"

"Great,' said Kurt with a tiny smile. "Talk to you soon."

"Yeah," said Quinn. Then she tucked the ticket into her pocket as she walked off to go step on the scale herself, feeling a bit comforted that even though almost everyone in her life hated or feared her, unlike Sue Sylvester, she still had one person she could call her friend.

Without benefits, that is.

* * *

><p>"Good news," said Kurt. "I think I might've found someone who I can ask to be our egg donor."<p>

"Really?" said Rachel over the phone. "That's awesome! Do I need to start preparing now?"

"We should take you to a doctor right away and make sure you're healthy enough."

"Of course!" said Rachel. "I mean, I don't see why I wouldn't be, but we probably have to do that anyway."

"I'll make the appointment right now!" said Kurt. "Do you think we can get away from rehearsal for two hours on Monday?"

"Not really," said Rachel. "Not with a concert at the end of next week. See if the office is open on Sunday." Then she turned around. "Finn, are we doing anything on Sunday?" she called.

"Huh?" he said

"I'm trying to make a doctors' appointment," she explained.

Even though she'd avoided mentioning what the doctors' appointment was about, he guessed anyway. "Uh, yeah," said Finn. "Mr. and Mrs. Schuster really need somebody to watch the kids for a few hours so I told them we'd do it. Sorry."

"Oh," said Rachel. "Sunday won't work. Maybe we can make it Tuesday or Thursday evening?"

Finn shook his head and walked out into the hallway. He still couldn't believe that Rachel was even considering doing this without seeming to take his feelings into account at all. "Daddy?"

There was Destiny, playing with some crayons at his feet. "Yeah?"

"Can Gramma mail teddy bear back home by bedtime?" she asked.

Finn sighed. "You left your teddy bear at Grandma's house?" Destiny bit her lip and nodded. "Are you sure?" asked Finn. She nodded again. Finn sighed. "Come here, let's go get him."

Destiny jumped up and ran to the closet. Finn grabbed his coat off the couch and put it on. Seconds later, the little girl bolted back over to him. "Daddy…look!" she said proudly.

Finn starred at her. She was wearing her rainbow jacket and the same pink shirt and strawberry red pants she'd been wearing seconds before. "Look at what?" he asked.

"Look!" she repeated again.

"Um…" said Finn. "Okay, I'm looking!"

"Look Uncle Kurt got me!"

Finn looked at her for a few more seconds. He had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to be looking at. "I give up."

Destiny blinked and starred at Finn like he was an idiot. "Sensible shoes. _Duh_." Then she marched over to the front door and opened it.

Finn shook his head. "I should have known." He grabbed his keys, followed Destiny out to the car, and put her in her car seat.

Rachel was waiting for Kurt to call her back and confirm that they'd gotten the appointment when she glanced out the window and saw Finn and Destiny getting into the car. She wondered what they were doing for a second and hoped they'd be back by dinner. Then the phone ran again and she snatched it up. "Did we get the appointment?"

"Yep, Tuesday at four forty-five," said Kurt. Rachel squealed. "Hold on…Karofsky, I _told_ you, if you aren't finished by the end of the day, you're _not_ getting paid. I don't care _when_ you were supposed to leave for your stupid football game!"

"I'm still impressed that you can stand to look at that guy's face," Rachel remarked.

"Only when most of it is covered with a breathing mask," said Kurt almost smugly. "Anyways, I hope the appointment's not too late for you. How late do Dad and Carole usually have Destiny?"

"Four-thirty," said Rachel. "But if they can't keep her later, I'll just have Finn go get her."

"Sounds good," said Kurt. "Hold on…oh, he's finally done? Only pay him half of what we were supposed to, will you Blaine? The septic tank doesn't look clean enough."

"How do you even know what a septic tank is supposed to look like?" asked Rachel.

"I don't," said Kurt. They both cackled slightly. "See you tomorrow."

"Kay, bye," said Rachel.

* * *

><p>"Daddy?" said Destiny.<p>

"Yes?" he asked.

"What store did you get me?"

It took Finn a split second to remember that Rachel had taught Destiny that babies come from a store. _Another _thing that would be a problem if she and Kurt followed through with this ridiculous plan. "Um…" said Finn. "K-mart."

Destiny made a face. "K-mart _sucks_."

"You're right," said Finn. "We got you at Target, okay?"

"Nope," said Destiny. "You got _me_ macys!"

"Of course not," said Finn. "You can only buy clothes there."

"Oh," said Destiny. Then she looked out the window and started singing to herself, "Street lights, people, living just to find emotion…"

_How is it that she can sing that entire song, but she can't say a complete sentence?_ Finn thought to himself. But he knew the answer: personality-wise, Destiny might as well have been Rachel's clone. The only thing she seemed to have picked up from him was his stubborn nature, and even that was probably more of a function of her being two than anything. He was secretly hoping that they would have a child more like him someday, preferably a boy. Of course, that possibility was probably ruled out for the next year or so. Then Finn got mad all over again.

As soon as he pulled up to Burt and Carole's driveway, Carole came over to the car. "Looking for this?"

"Teddy!" squealed Destiny.

Finn smiled politely. "Thanks."

"Something wrong?" asked Carole.

"Rachel's about to do something, I hate it, and she doesn't care," said Finn, not wanting to elaborate because he wasn't sure if Kurt had told Burt yet.

Carole looked hard at Finn. "Well, is she doing the right thing?"

Finn sighed. "She sure thinks she is."


	6. Too Much

"William Alan Schuster junior, if you don't get off that couch right this instant you aren't getting any cookies today!" said Rachel.

Will's five-year-old son, also known as Billy, climbed down off the couch with a guilty look on his face. "Oh, now look what you've done!" said Rachel, looking at the muddy footprints on the couch in dismay. "Do you know where that couch was imported from, young man? Spain! You are _so _lucky that I was planning on getting it dry cleaned this week anyway!"

"Sorry Mrs. Hudson," mumbled Billy. "I was just trying to look at _those_!" He pointed to the top of a nearby bookshelf.

Rachel smiled a little when she saw what he was looking at. "The pictures of me and Mr. Hudson singing with your Daddy?" Billy nodded. "Those were the days."

"Is that Mrs. Jones holding the trophy?" said Billy.

"Yes," said Rachel, looking closer. Mercedes was standing right in the center of the group with Will's hand on one shoulder, and the photo was blown up so that the words "Nationals 2012" on the trophy were clearly visible. The last time New Directions as Rachel had known it had all been together before she, Finn, and Kurt graduated and Quinn was hauled off to rehab. It still existed, of course, but after that it was never the same again.

"Is there any old furniture I can jump on?" asked Billy.

"_No_," said Rachel, slightly horrified. The only piece of "old" furniture that she owned that wasn't an antique was the old chair that Finn's father had held him in, and that couldn't be jumped on for obvious reasons. Rachel took a split second to smile at the picture of Finn in his father's arms and the picture right next to it of Finn holding baby Destiny in the same chair. Then she turned back to Billy. "Why don't you go play with the girls?"

"They're playing dress up with some unicorns," said Billy. "That's just dumb old girl stuff!"

"You don't know that until you've tried it," said Rachel. "Go on and join them, I need to practice for my concert on Friday."

Just then, Finn walked in the door to the living room. Rachel turned to him and smiled. "Did you say goodbye to Sam for me?"

Finn nodded. "Yeah. He's on his flight back to Portland now. Hey, Billy. Want to go outside and play catch?"

"You mean I don't have to go play unicorn dress up with Audrie and Destiny?" said Billy.

"No way," said Finn. "That's just dumb old girl stuff."

Billy beamed and went with Finn to go put on their sneakers. Rachel sighed. She was sure Finn hadn't done that deliberately, but still. Then tension between them wasn't getting any easier to deal with. She hated the fact that the situation had absolutely no room for compromise other than the decision she had already made to not let the baby be biologically hers. Now it was a matter of her either carrying the baby or not carrying it. And there was no way she was backing out on Kurt and Blaine now. Finn ought to understand that.

"Rachel!" said Finn.

"Yeah?"

"Puck's at the door," said Finn. "He wants to see you."

"Okay, sure," said Rachel. She hated how flat and emotionless Finn's voice always sounded when he talked to her these days. Suddenly it occurred to her to wonder what the heck Puck wanted to talk to _her_ about. She only ever saw him anymore was when he came over to the house to lay around on the couch in the den with Finn drinking beer and watching football and other things she hated.

"What's going on, Noah?" asked Rachel politely as she stepped out the door.

Puck rubbed his elbow nervously and glanced around. "I need to talk to you about your Shelby…um…I mean your mom. Shelby."

"Why?" said Rachel, completely confused. That was probably the weirdest thing she'd heard in weeks, although she did have to admit that it was almost adorable seeing her husband's obnoxious friend so flustered.

"Well…um," said Puck. He straightened up a little. "She adopted a little girl, right?"

"Yeah," Rachel beamed. "Her name is Beth. Sweet little blonde thing, big brown eyes, she's in…sixth grade now, I think? Why?"

Puck gulped. "She's my daughter."

Rachel's eyes nearly popped out of her head, then darted back and forth in confusion. "What? _What_? But we were so young when my mom adopted her…Finn and I were babysitting for her while studying for our senior finals, and she was, like, _two_ already." Rachel took another few seconds to do the math. "Wait a minute, is this the Beth that _Quinn_ gave up for adoption?"

"No," said Puck. "I fathered two baby girls named Beth when I was in high school."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"_Of course_ it's mine and Quinn's Beth!" snapped Puck. "Can you please just give me her phone number? I really want to see her again."

Rachel hesitated for a minute. "Tell you what, I'll give you _Shelby's_ phone number. You can ask her.'

"Okay, thanks," said Puck. "I really appreciate this, Rachel."

Rachel smiled a little as she quickly scribbled Shelby's number down on a piece of paper and handed it to him. She hadn't seen Puck show this level of sincerity in years.

* * *

><p>Finn gulped as he entered the concert hall leading Destiny by the hand. "There Gramma Grandpa!" squealed Destiny.<p>

Finn glanced at where Burt and Carole were sitting a few rows away. Blaine was sitting next to them. Finn tore his gaze away from his brother-in-law. _My wife's uterus is NOT their property_, he thought to himself again. Then he pulled Destiny closer to him. "We're getting better seats, Rainbow."

Destiny pouted. "Wanna sit Gramma!"

"No," said Finn. He glanced around looking for someone he knew to sit by and suddenly noticed Quinn sitting _very_ close to the front in the VIP section. What the hell was _she _doing here?

"Sit over here!" called Artie. Finn turned and saw him and Tina sitting in the back row. Finn instantly scooped up Destiny and walked over to them as quickly as possible.

"Did Rachel tell you the good news?" asked Tina as Finn got closer.

"Of course not!" said Artie. "You only called her like _five minutes_ ago."

Finn glanced back and forth between the two of them, both clearly bursting with excitement. "No, what's going on?"

Tina clapped her hands together. "You tell him!"

Artie grinned and put his arm around Tina. "We're getting a baby!"

"Oh," said Finn. "Wow, that's…that's amazing, congrats, man," he said, hi-fiving both of his friends.

Destiny looked at Artie. "What store?"

"Huh?" said Artie.

"She wants to know what store you're getting your baby at," Finn explained.

Tina smiled. "A really _big_ baby store called China. She's already two months old and we've named her Anna Carly Abrams. And in six months we'll be able to go get her, and she'll be all ours!"

As Finn took his seat next to the happy couple and Destiny started showing Tina her sparkly fingernails, he suddenly remembered that Artie and Tina had started trying for a baby at the same time that he and Rachel did. A little less than a year later, Destiny was born. Three and a half years later, Artie and Tina still had six months to wait. That wasn't fair. For a split second that made Finn feel sorry for Kurt and Blaine. Then he remembered what they were planning on doing and felt angry again and glanced over at Blaine, almost glaring.

But then a strange thought entered his mind: was it really so bad if they did go through with this? It _was_ only for nine months. Nine months and everything would be back to normal again, only he would have a little niece or nephew. But could he handle nine months of having to look at his wife's belly, knowing that inside, she was carrying someone else's child?

* * *

><p>Kurt sat in the green room adjusting his tie and listening to Santana and Brittney giggling incessantly from across the room and slapping each other hi-fives. "You ready?" asked Mercedes awkwardly.<p>

"Yeah, you?" replied Kurt. The two of them hadn't talked much since Mercedes told everyone she was pregnant.

"You seem nervous," she remarked.

"I'm not," said Kurt. Not about going up on stage anyway. He was nervous about the thing he was going to do _after_ the performance.

"Hey guys, did you hear?" squealed Rachel as she entered the room bursting with excitement. "Artie and Tina are getting a baby!"

"Really?" said Mercedes.

"Awesome," said Brittney. "So are we."

"Wha…what?" said Rachel, she blinked.

"It's true," said Santana. "I'm pregnant." Then she wrapped her arm around Brittney and squealed.

"Well, um…congrats," said Rachel.

"Yeah," said Mercedes, although she, like Rachel, was still trying to process the horrific image of Brittney and Santana with a baby.

Kurt gulped. "Good for you."

Rachel looked over at him. It was obvious that he was a little jealous of how easy it was for Santana to get a baby for her and Brittney compared to him and Blaine. Just then, Puck stepped into the room.

"What are you doing back here?" asked Rachel. "You're supposed to be guarding the door.

"I am," said Puck. "I just wanted to thank you again for giving me Shelby's number. She's letting me come to Beth's recital next week."

"Oh, no problem," said Rachel, secretly glad that Shelby seemed to be sensible enough not to let Puck actually talk to Beth.

_This is just great_, thought Kurt._ Even _Puck_ gets to be a father in a sense._

"Rachel," said Mercedes. "Can I talk to you for a second before we go onstage?"

Rachel glanced at Brittney and Santana, who seemed to be far too wrapped up in each other to overhear whatever Mercedes was about to say. "Sure."

"I don't think I can do this," said Mercedes.

"You mean…" Rachel glanced at her friend's stomach. Mercedes nodded.

"I made an appointment," whispered Mercedes. "Will you go with me?"

Rachel hesitated and nodded. "Okay." They hugged each other tightly.

_So let me get this straight_, Kurt thought to himself. _Artie and Tina are getting a baby in six months, Finn and Rachel got to be parents as soon as they decided they wanted to be, Brittney and Santana are having a baby that will probably spend it's whole damn life in therapy trying to decide which of it's mothers was more corrupted, Mercedes is having a baby she doesn't even want, and what do I get? Blaine and I are practically having to jump through hoops! What is this? This isn't right._

"Okay everyone, they're about to call us out!" said Rachel.

Kurt wished that he could pull out his phone and text Blaine for a few minutes, but there was no time. He took a deep breath and remembered that what he was planning on doing after the performance would fix everything.


	7. Revelations

"And now please welcome…DEFYING GRAVITY!"

The crowds went wild as the five singers stepped out on stage. Rachel stepped out in front and began singing the first few notes of _Walking on Sunshine_, all the other girls joining in in succession. Quinn smiled from the third row back, remembering the time that she herself had performed the song in a mashup with _Halo_ with Rachel, Tina, Brittney, Santana, and Mercedes. The last three were the only ones she'd really ever been friends with, and looking back, Quinn saw that her friendships with Brittney and Santana had been based solely on Cheerios unity and the fact that all three of them knew the "right" makeup to wear and the "right" clothes to buy and the "right" people to throw a slushie at. High school stuff. All the stupid things that mattered for exactly four years of one's life and never again. Her friendship with Mercedes, on the other hand, had been real. While it had lasted.

The next song they sang was one Rachel had written herself called "Faithful Hearts," which resembled an adaptation of "Faithfully" that could be sung better by an all female band. The first time Rachel had sung that song she'd dedicated it to Finn. _Those were the days_, he thought bitterly as he put his hands over Destiny's to keep her from clapping along to the song and over her mouth to keep her from belting out the words to _Hello_ when the band started singing that.

Meanwhile, Quinn was smiling for the first time in years-a real smile, not the irritated kind that she used to intimidate her students. The music was making her feel happy, and the fact that Kurt was shamelessly glancing over at her whenever he sang the words, "without you my life just ain't the same" was making her feel downright special, almost like her old self, back before she'd dyed her hair pink and changed her wardrobe. Certainly the way she was before Jesse St. James had started giving her free drugs hoping to sabotage New Directions' chances at Regionals. That hadn't worked at all, they'd only made her perform better for the entire rest of the year. He had, however, managed to ruin her life.

Six or so songs later, everyone in the audience was standing up to give Defying Gravity a standing ovation except for Finn, who stood up carefully with Destiny asleep on his shoulder and nodded politely to his wife, brother, and friends on stage. Rachel blew Finn a kiss like she always did, but somehow it seemed less sincere than usual.

After the singers took their bows, Santana took Brittney's hand and led her off the stage, both squealing and grinning like schoolgirls, Kurt and Mercedes exiting more solemnly. Rachel stepped up to the front of the stage and grabbed the microphone. "Thank you so much for coming everyone! I would like to say a special thank you to our sponsors…"

As she continued talking, Puck was escorting Mercedes to her car through the back door while Brittney and Santana stopped to sign autographs. Then Puck came back to escort them to their car and saw Quinn coming up the steps to where they were. "Why are you trying to get backstage, Q?" asked Puck.

"I invited her!" called Kurt.

"Quinn!" said Santana. "How are you? Got any meth I can borrow?"

Quinn clenched her jaw. "I was a_ crack_ addict, _not_ a _meth_ addict," she snapped. "And that's all over now. Thanks."

"She was just kidding, Quinn," said Brittney. "Pregnant people can't do drugs anyway."

Quinn's eyes darted back and forth. "_What_…"

Santana beamed. "And guess who the baby daddy is?" Quinn didn't say anything. Santana flashed an evil smile. "Your former high school boy-toy! I'll refer to him by name so there won't be any confusion: Sam Evans." She let out a laugh that was almost a cackle as she patted her stomach. "Just think: if you hadn't been such a screw-up, this could be yours!"

"Okay, that's enough!" snapped Puck. "Do you girls want to get to your car or not?"

Quinn flashed Puck a grateful smile as she made her way backstage. One of the nice things about him was that he had a habit of protecting his friends with benefits. Even when the things people were saying about them were mostly true.

"Kurt!" called Quinn as she attempted to put the grotesque thought of Sam and Santana in bed together and now having a child together out of her mind.

His face lit up as she came over and gave him a hug. "Thank you so much for inviting me! That was the most fun I've had in years! You guys are _amazing_!"

"You're amazing, Quinn," said Kurt as he gave her a quick squeeze before letting her go. "That's why I think you're the perfect person for me to ask to do this."

"What?" asked Quinn. Her mind raced. What did he need? Was he going to ask her to sing with them? Yes! That must be it!

"I want you to be the biological mother of mine and Blaine's baby."

Quinn froze. The words hit her like a slap.

"Don't worry, you wouldn't have to carry it," said Kurt. "You would just have to donate some of your eggs-and yes, that would require surgery-but it would be fairly minor, and at the other end you would get to live with the knowledge that you made one very happy couple's dream possible." Still smiling, he held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

"This is why you've been so nice to me, haven't you?" asked Quinn slowly. "You never really wanted to hang out with me any more than the rest of them do." The anger rising up inside her showed on her face…"You only wanted me for…your little _science experiment_!" she spat out.

Kurt paused for a moment, trying to shake off the fact the way that she'd just referred to his future child and focus on persuading her. "No, no, I do like hanging out with you," said Kurt. "I just thought you might be able to help me out, since you're such a good natured…"

"Oh, save it," snapped Quinn, turning away from him and heading for the door.

Tears burned behind Kurt's eyelids. _Now _he was angry, and he wasn't someone who angered easily, at least to this extent. Finn, strangers, and the universe were bad enough, but what the hell right did _Quinn Fabray_ have to deny him fatherhood?

"Why the hell not, Quinn?" he suddenly yelled. "Why not?" he shouted. "You already gave _one_ away! _What's the problem_?"

Quinn froze. _You already gave one away_.

In that moment, Rachel blew one last kiss to her adoring fans and skipped backstage, only to immediately see Quinn in the room smacking Kurt across the face as hard as humanly possible. "Hey!" yelled Rachel, marching up to Kurt's side. "What the _hell_ are you even doing in here?"

"You!" shouted Quinn, suddenly pointing her finger at Rachel. "You stole _everything_! You stole my friends, you stole the spotlight, you stole my boyfriend. You two are proof that high school relationships can last. _I _should've been Mrs. Finn Hudson!"

She spun around and stormed out of the room. Rachel turned around and put her arms around Kurt, who was in tears, and tried to process what had just happened. Was Quinn back on the drugs or something? She didn't look high, but why just come backstage so that she could attack Rachel and Kurt for no reason? And Mrs. Finn Hudson indeed, ha! That score had been settled a decade ago. What was the point to rehashing it now?

"I asked Quinn to be the egg donor," Kurt finally whispered.

"Oh," said Rachel. "_Oh_…"

"I don't get this," he whispered. "When's it _my_ turn to be happy?"

For once, Rachel didn't know what to say. She just hugged him closer to her and put her head next to his head. "You will," she finally said, almost convincingly.

"How?" said Kurt

"I'm sure we've got plenty of options," said Rachel. "We just have to look for them."

"Then why do I feel like Quinn was the last hope?" asked Kurt.

"She wasn't," said Rachel. "How long have you been thinking about this?"

"Since I was a little boy pushing baby dolls in a stroller," said Kurt.

Just like me

, she thought. Now even Rachel was almost crying. This _wasn't_fair.

"Why don't you just use Rachel's eggs?"

Slightly startled, Rachel looked up and saw who was in the doorway. "Finn," she said softly.

Finn came closer. Destiny was in his arms, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "Hey Destiny," he said, patting her back. "Do you think Uncle Kurt should have a baby?"

Destiny nodded. Then she turned her body around and patted Kurt's shoulder. "Me hold it?" Then she held out her arms expectantly.

Everyone had to smile at that. "Come here, you!" said Kurt, holding out his arms for Destiny to jump in.

"I still think it would be too weird for the baby to have the same DNA as his or her cousins," Rachel admitted. "But thanks, Finn." She let him pull against his chest and kiss her on the top of the head. Then Finn put his free arm around Kurt who put his free arm around Rachel, Destiny happily snug in the middle of all of them.

"You know," said Finn. "There are organizations for this kind of thing. Maybe we should ask Mrs. Shuster. She probably knows someone."

"Hey, yeah!" said Kurt. "I'll call her tomorrow morning."

"Let me know if there are any appointments you need to go to," said Finn, patting Destiny's shoulder meaningfully, causing her to look up at him questioningly.

"What I do?" she said. And everyone had to laugh.

* * *

><p>Quinn Fabray quietly peeled off the blue and yellow dress that she had worn that night, the only dress she owned anymore and hadn't worn in years. A tear rolled down her cheek as she put it on it's hanger and pushed it to the back of the closet, thinking that it would probably remain there forever. Then she sat down on her shabby armchair, the only chair in her lonely studio apartment, and just stayed there all night, too miserable to sleep, too tired to do anything else, missing something she couldn't explain.<p>

* * *

><p>"So, how did you figure out that I had her?" asked Shelby as she and Puck moved through the middle school auditorium.<p>

"I remembered talking to you in the hospital," said Puck. "And I remembered telling you her name. Then about two months ago I heard that you had a daughter named Beth."

Shelby nodded. "I'd always planned on writing a letter to you guys someday, just to let you know what had happened. I didn't think it would be before Beth was eighteen though." They saw two vacant plastic seats and sat down in them. "How's Quinn doing, by the way?"

"She's…" Puck hesitated. Where did he start? With the lengths she went to trying to put Beth out of her mind in the months after giving her up for adoption? With her rushed comeback as the queen bee at William McKinley high school, only to sabotage her reputation with a series of failed relationships and then turning to the dark side? With the biker boots? The drugs? The lies? The maniacal destruction of the choir room after Mr. Schu told her she wouldn't be coming back to Glee club the next year if she didn't clean up her act? The intervention that followed? Rehab? Morphing into Sue Sylvester's saner, sexier clone?

"She's okay now," Puck finally said.

Shelby nodded quietly. "I know how hard it is giving a baby up, you know."

Puck nodded. "I wished she wouldn't have."

Shelby looked up, slightly started. She hadn't known Puck wanted to keep Beth. Then they both fell silent as a sixth-grade boy came out on the stage and began singing.

"What is this play, anyway?" whispered Puck.

"Honk," said Shelby. "It's a musical version of _The Ugly Duckling_. Beth is the female lead," she said with a hint of pride in her voice.

A few moments later, the curtain drew back, revealing a set that resembled a barnyard with six or so kids dressed up as farm animals. Towards the left, there was a girl with the most amazing blonde curls standing in a white dress with a plastic beak over her nose. Puck froze. She stepped forward and began to sing.

"That's her," whispered Shelby

"I know," said Puck. It was almost eerie how quickly he recognized her after so many years.

"Her voice," he whispered. "How did she learn how to sing like that?"

"I taught her, of course," said Shelby. Puck suddenly remembered that she used to be the coach for vocal adrenaline and nodded. "Part of it is genetic, though."

Puck felt an unexpected wave of pride as she stepped forward and began to sing to the audience about the joys of motherhood. _That's her_, he thought to himself. _That's my little girl_.


End file.
